Triumph
by livefonos
Summary: Just updated, added some new chapters, Mostly the middle parts of the story, still working out some kinks before i get to the end.
1. Got a mind to give up living

They say that when you die, there's a white light, or glow leading you to wherever it is your supposed to go. Yeah I never believed that bull either. Especially when I knew where I was going, and it certainly wouldn't involve a white light leading the way. The only thing I could remember was angels don't like to cry, like that was supposed to mean something to me. Next thing I know I'm confined to a box no bigger than most New York apartment's. "A coffin, great as if it wasn't bad enough" thank fully I had been dead awhile, so the ground was moist making it easier to claw my way out. It was raining; of course it had to be raining. My legs felt like they hadn't been used for centuries, I kept wobbling like a drunken baby elephant, which is if elephant's got drunk as often as I did. Now more than likely you've never had the pleasure of looking upon you own tombstone, let me tell you when you see your name imprinted on a giant slab of stone you look at things in a different light. And there it was Daniel .M Snyder Born 11-27-1978 died 12-22-2003. "Dead? I certainly don't feel dead." And as if on q in there stepped a saintly crow. Pecking at the enamel that was to be my home. "I don't suppose you want a cracker eh Polly" the bird just stared at me with eyes only curious George himself could do justice. "Caw" was all she wrote. "Caw? I just pull a night of the living dead and caw is the welcome I get? Yeah great sense of humor!...asshole". Same blank stare. "so what fire and brimstone, the wrath of the almighty I presume" no caw this time, no blank stare in fact if I were to guess what the bird was doing, I'd say it was smiling. It flew off to a lamppost a few yards away. "What you want me to follow you?" the bird still perched on the lamppost squawked impatiently. "Okay, okay but if your leading me on a wild goose chase Polly, I swear ill eat your unborn children's brain's" I laughed at the joke no one else would get. After a few blocks I was standing outside my old apartment complex. Well what was left after it was torched. "What are we doing here" the bird pecked at the open door. "Look I lived it once I'm not in a hurry to remember it all this quick" But memories have a way of sneaking up on you. I saw it in the back of my mind somewhere, in the back where I keep all those bad thoughts, in the back where you keep those memories that make you feel insignificant about everything, in the back where you keep your worst childhood fears, In the back with all those things you would like to forget but keep tearing at your brain every night before you go to sleep. Three of them. Scarecrow, Jonesy, and Hector. "I don't want to do this" The bird gave me a look like "Your fucking joking" I stayed quite. I pushed aside the door and stepped in to the rubble that was my late life. "I always hated that table". I said as I caught a glance at the ceramic tile of the table Edith had bought at Ikea last summer. "I told her that it was too big for the dining room but she wouldn't listen...She never listened". I kept silent for a minute or two, choking back the tears that were still lodged in my throat. "What am I doing here? What possible reason could there be for me to be standing here wasting my time reminding myself of what happened here, and how stupid I feel for not doing a damn thing about it." The crow just bobbed his head. "Good so we have some sort of common ground" The crow perched itself on the remnants of a charred vanity. "CAW" I shot him a look. "Whatever's in there is more than likely burnt to a cinder bird" the crow swooped down on an open drawer "CAW" giving in I paced over to the vanity and opened the drawer slightly "See burnt to a cinder" the crow began pecking at the ashes "What is it?" Already knowing the answer. "Her engagement ring" this time the tears welded up on the corners of my eyes "She thought I was drinking my pay checks away while I was saving up for it" The crow perched on my right shoulder and cooed lightly "I don't need sympathy, especially from you, don't forget I didn't choose to do this, that whole angels don't like to cry bullshit your people feed me, I don't care what the rules are about suffering up there ok, I'm here to do a job and get back to my Edith" The bird flew to one of the ceiling post "Caw" I shot him the dirtiest look I could. "Yeah I know, Let's get it done".  
First thing I had to do was get some clothes the ripped up funeral home look was out, and honestly I was nipping bad. Lucky for me my old Docks where still lying around in one of the closets least touched by the fire, along with a set of dirty levis, and my favorite black turtle neck, Along with my old navy pea coat. I still looked like shit but it was an improvement. "So what now" The bird was silent, watching me. "Ok look my beef isn't with you, seriously I mean yeah I do appreciate me getting a crack at finding those monsters that did this to us, but all I'm saying is I'm sure your used to this sort of thing, but I sure the hell am not so just take it easy the vengeance will come soon enough" It seemed to understand and perched on my shoulder again. "Alright lead the way. 


	2. The catch

As we were leaving the ruins of my apartment, a wino stepped out from behind a brick wall "Hey ghost man got a quarter" I didn't recognize him at first glance. "Do I know you" he gave me a wink "Sure you do, remember flash of light, where am I". Then it hit me "Paul right, that's what you liked to be called up there?" His smile was a morning sunrise. "Got it partner" I started walking, whatever he was selling I wasn't buying "Where you off to dead man?" I stopped in my tracks "I figure I was on my way to see a couple of old friends what's it to you" I never had patience anyway " Hey, I'm not trying to be getting on your bad side Danny just wanted to see how you where doing" He was beating around the bush, and he knew I could tell "Look I'm not sure who's game this is, but as I recall I'm here to straighten some things out, and you seem to want to hold me up for twenty question's, now unless you have something important to tell me I suggest you let me on my way" He thought for a moment "Alright, look he sent me to iron out some bumps Danny, Seems you got the wrong idea about all this, we didn't let you come back to go on some killing spree Dan, we sent you back to put a rest to that pain that you keep chained up in side of you" I gave up "Wait you pull some H.P reanimator deal tell me to put right whatever it is I got to, but then you happen to forget to mention that I cant do unto others as others did to me?, you guys have a really fucked communication system up there" I began to walk again "You know she's waiting for you Daniel, She's up there all alone, Thinking that when you do what I think your going to do, that your going to waltz right back in, clean conscious and all. You need to reavaluate the situation, Daniel things have changed, the big chief isn't about all that smiting, and killing of the first-born. He learned along time ago humans don't respond well to threat's" I could not believe what I was hearing "So what the hell am I supposed to do here, Forgive and forget...huh you expect me to believe that I came back to give those freaks a scolding and then let it be, I don't play it that way, They took something from me, something I can never get back, our future, they took away my someday son, my someday daughter, my someday wife, my someday FUCKING FAMILY AND YOU EXPECT ME TO FORGIVE THEM!" He was smiling "We don't expect you to do anything Daniel, The choice has been yours since you got back, Free will Danny, But you have to understand the consequence's of the choice's you make, the others they don't know yet, But you have the chance Daniel, you alone can show them the mercy god has for the mistakes they make. You can help them repent for what they have done to you and your love. But the choice IS yours to make Danny, each decision you make will affect you for better or worse, but if you choose the wrathful hand, you will not be able to see Edith" A train had just hit me "So what does that mean, I go to hell" He had the saddest expression on his face "Honestly, Yes Daniel, you go to hell, You must understand Daniel that no one has ever been permitted to enter his kingdom with that on his conscience'' My blood ran cold "What happens to Edith?" He glanced up I guess he was waiting for an answer. "She's stay's where she is, Contently waiting for you to come back to her, Yet knowing that day will never come, it will be like her loosing you all over again.'' The thought of hurting Edith turned my stomach "I'm not sure I can play by those rules Paul, they didn't play by ours" He smiled like he had been expecting it "Like I said your decision, But the best of luck to you" He started to walk away. "I'm not the first am I Paul" He sighed " unfortunately, No there have been a great number of you" The crow still perched on my shoulder cawed again "How many of them... forgave" He sighed again "None, some came close, but in the end they always choose the vengeance by fire routine" there was only one more thing I needed to know " What about you? What would you do Paul" He smiled "Same thing I've been doing since I got up there, Leave it in his hands. They always made the mistake that their aggressor's never had to come to terms with what they did...They where wrong, just like you are now, Danny, everybody pays there dues Danny, everybody, for some it just take a little longer" and just like that he was gone. 


	3. Memories, bullets, and barkeeps

I imagined it in my head, Edith and I are coming home from a neighborhood meeting, and when we pulled into our driveway we saw the three of them, drenching our front porch in gasoline. I put the car in reverse to back away, that's when I heard the shot, and the next thing I know Edith's head is in my lap screaming with a bullet hole on the side of her forehead, then I felt two bullets rip into my chest and explode against the surface of a rib or two, bouncing itself off the edge of my spine before lodging itself into my left lung, the other was nestled right between the two major heart valves. One of the three men is yelling at the other "Scarecrow you gonna bring dominoes down on all of us you fucking fool" scarecrow pops the clip out of his nine millimeter "What the fuck was I supposed to do gringo in the car knows us Hector, I ain't trying to be getting me another nickel homes" The third is silent "Man Hector shut that bitch up dog someone's going to fucking hear" He points the gun at the driver side of the car " Fuck man as if they haven't already heard the fucking nine, fucking idiot" Hector run's over to the passenger side of the car and smash's the window "Danny man, Shit, I'm sorry homes" He grabs Edith by her hair, she's still screaming, he puts a box cutter to the side of her neck and slits her throat "Fuck, Jonesy don't just fucking sit there torch the pad dick!" Danny reach's for the door handle and stumbles out of the car "Man Danny... Shit Scarecrow you're a fucking idiot man" Scarecrow looks at Danny "Man fuck Me cago en la puta madre, He always thought he was better then the rest of us anyway," Hector looked at him "Pinche wei, Put him out man, Don't sit there and let him bleed to death" Scarecrow looks at Danny "Ay te hautcho pinche bendito" He points the barrel to Danny' s head and pulls the trigger. "Chale' lets fucking kick rocks ese', Fucking huta' will be popping quick" They all run into a Plymouth and peel out leaving Edith and me on the driveway dead. Forgive, turn the other cheek? "What a fucking joke, Where are they bird man" The crow cawed and lead the way.  
"Diablo's, Hey bird you got the wrong place, those Vato's wouldn't show up here this ain't neutral turf." The bird just sat and watched me carefully. "Whatever you say, But like I said, unborn children's brains" I walked into the front entrance of the bar, The thick black smoke of a cigar was more than enough to give anyone cancer. "Hey check out the bujarron, the disco theca is down the street sailor" I didn't pay attention to the comment. I walked up the bar and waited "You want something partner?" The bartender was a short stumpy man with a patch over his left eye "Hector, Scarecrow, or Jonesy?" He gave me a long look "They don't come around here no more sorry" He started to walk away "I didn't ask you if they were here I asked where I could find them" He turned around a gave me a real hard look "What you want with them, only people who come looking for them either got a death wish, or a job" It was my turn to be hard "They owe me a lot, and I 'm looking to collect so once again where can I find them?" He didn't say anything "Listen pal whoever you are I think you should leave, I aint got nothing to say to you" He pointed to the door and waited "I'll leave, when I'm done getting what I want and how I get it is of little importance" He smiled a sociopath smile "You don't hear so well, I said you better leave" And he reached under the bar and pulled out a sawed off shotgun. I gave him the same smile. "You know, I bet you've scared a lot of people off with that, right?" he nodded "And you think hell one more, and I make my quarter for bartender of the year, Well I really hate to be the bearer of bad news Cyclops but..." He wasn't very fast as I snatched the gun from his hands and pointed it to the tip of his nose "But I'm not an average customer, Now where are they" he was still smiling "When they kill you, I want you to think of me" I jabbed the gun into the side of his cheek hard "Dually noted, where?" He nodded "Jonesy always nod's at his girl Clarita's house on tenth and boiler, Scarecrow love's the dog fights try him at the old stadium near the Y, And Hector, he's got his son this week, so he'd more than likely take him to his condo on eighth and bodega in eastside." I eased off the trigger "Thank you, and have a nice day barkeep" I handed his gun back to him and walked out. 


	4. the face of god

"Okay, first we pay Jonesy the pyro a visit, then we see about MR. Scarecrow, I'll save Hector for last." The crow nodded in agreement. Working from the bottom up, it was my way of doing things. Finding Jonesy wasn't fairly hard; the place stunk from a mile away. "You stay here I'm going to see if anyone's home. The Old building used to be an old museum of natural art, now it was a graveyard of sin. You could tell that the slumlord hadn't been by lately. On account that all the windows were busted out on the front entrance. When I stepped in the courtyard a couple of kids stopped and stared. " Hello" no response " I hate to interrupt your play time, but I was wondering if anyone of you could direct me to Mr. Jonesy's apartment" The one who was the tallest came forward " We don't want no huta's coming around here" I smiled the calmest smile I could " No I'm not a cop, I just want to speak with him about a car" They caught me in a lie. "He don't own no car ese', no one around here does." They were smarter than I thought " Obviously you're the brains of the outfit right?" He gave me a look meaner than a convict " Yeah, so what of it?" He challenged " I got no beef with you guy's, I'm just looking for Jonesy to have a conversation with him, a secret conversation that I can't tell anyone about, you get me" Yeah they knew all about secrets, and from the looks of them, they were probably holding horrific secrets among themselves. " I know your just trying to protect the youngster's, and that's metale, But I come with no disrespect" He nodded " Your here to kill him right" I was caught off guard " Something along that line, yes" He smiled the happiest smile I have ever seen a little boy smile "He stay's with my mom in number fifteen, She's a good mom don't hurt her." I nodded " Not a hair on her head" And I slapped him five. As I turned my back to them one of the younger girls came over to me "Are you here to make him stop hurting me" I Knelt down beside her " Yes angel, he will never bother you again" she smiled " Don't kill him, even thought he hurt us bad, I know that his mommies and daddies did it to him too" I kissed her on the cheek and walked away. The only sound coming from the apartment was a women's sobbing, then a man screaming. "Shut up bitch you know you liked it" She was still quite. I rapped at the door lightly " GO AWAY!" I knocked again " Fuck bitch did you call the cops again you fucking cunt" I heard the sound of a punch connecting with a jawbone then silence. Then I heard the top lock turn. I kicked in the door and walked in. He was sitting on the floor holding a broken nose " You fucking cabron that was my fucking..." He turned clay when he saw me standing by the closed door. "Hello Jonesy, how are things" He made the sign of the cross and continued to hold his bleeding nose " No fucking way I'm seeing this" I laughed " Your dead man" I sat on a near by stool and dusted of my coat " Well, I wonder what someone might say to that, BOO" He jumped back " Look man, I swear it was never my idea to torch the pad, scarecrow set the whole thing up man." I stared at him like a lion would stare at his next meal. " One question, why?" He glanced down for a moment " It was a fucking job man, we were supposed to clear the building, landlord said it was going to be shut down, health violations, building ordinance problems, said it be worth more in insurance money" Money, its always money " What about the people inside, what about them" He was silent " No one was supposed to be home, landlord said he paid some of the tenants off, let them get a few things and told them when we would be coming, No one was supposed to be there" He started to cry " I swear man I would have never even gone through with it if I thought for one second it was going to go down the way it did." He reached for a dirty shirt and held it to his nose. "Your not going to kill me are you" I smile "Maybe have decided yet, Where's this land lord?" He shook his head "Hell man you don't want to even fuck with it, hell you pulling a fucking undead shit is bad, but id rather die then face what he'd do to me for ratting him out" I stood up and walked toward him "Is that your final answer" he stared at the floor "Kill me" I reached over and poked the tip of his nose "Does that hurt Jones" He started crying again "No I'M not going to kill you Mr. Jones, but it goes without saying that you do need to pay for what you did" I grabbed to side's of his temples and forced all the memory's of dieing and what it feel's like to see the face of the creator. "You must understand that no living man has ever seen the face of god, I can only imagine the damage it will do to your body" He was convulsing on the floor, then nothing. A blank stare and shallow breathing was all that he would ever be able to do for the rest of his life. 


	5. Triumph

"Be Afraid of the swords, for yourselves for these crimes deserve the sword so that you may know there is a judgment"  
  
JOB CH 19:29  
  
"Your move slick" he rested his head against the shimmy window, staring down from thirteen floors. I palmed the 357. Like a shivering puppy. "You got heart kid, a lot of heart, but business is business and well you got in the way. Was nothing personal" I stared at him through ancient eyes. "It never is, is it?" I asked. "Well, I think this is, hell I think this is as personal as it gets amigo, half the things you did to my boys, gringo would have had to had some beef with us." He smiled that Raymond smile of his. " You like the cult" I stared at the chrome of the pistol and wondered if heaven was as bright "don't fear the reaper?" he smiled again...damn him " yeah, you know that song was based on the seventh sign, that Demi broad played in it" he was still smiling "You know I didn't come up here to play Ebert." That's when his smiling stopped "yeah I know, I got dues to pay partner, figure it would come to this someday, Wasn't scared of dieing, where I'm going that's the scary part" he reached in his pocket and pulled out a lucky strike "you smoke?" he said offering me one "I don't breath" no one laughed at the joke. "So what are you waiting for ghost man, I ain't running no where, nowhere to go you wouldn't find me." It was my turn to smile. "Anxious, to be winged away to your eternity?" and I took a seat on the shredded lazy boy behind me. "Wouldn't you be?" we stayed silent for a few minutes or so. "I never like goodbyes either" I didn't say anything. "But if it means anything to you scoot, I am sorry for what happened, it was never supposed to go down like that, fucking scarecrow flipped when you and your old lady pulled up, by the time I could stop him he was already unloading his clip into the car, I swear I never meant for no body to get hurt, its just the way it happened." I sighed "I'm not the preacher, and this is not confession time, your absolution was set in stone when you put the knife to her throat while I watched with two bullets in my chest, everyone has a choice hector, you made yours, and now its time for you to receive your penance" he started to cry "I don't want to die man, please I don't want to die, I got me kids man, three of them and a girl, We was broke and needed money, scarecrow said no one would get hurt, I didn't want to do it man, but she was already dead, that hole in her head wasn't going to close by itself I did her a favor putting her out of her misery like that" he knelt down at my feet. "Judge not yet yea be judged, hector you had no right to take part in our fate, if god willed her to die from the gunshot wound then so be it, but I would still be here, and you would still be there, I don't care what your conscience is telling you now about that night, and I don't care what innocent lives you use to barter your life with me, my humanity has long been dead" I pointed the barrel of the gun to his head "And now your maker calls you to his kingdom, goodbye hector, till we meet again" The roar of the gun was my triumph. 


End file.
